Transferring stitches



Mal-6B 26, 1.946. J. SIRMAY f 2, 7,4 6

TRANSFERRING STITCHES Original Filed May 9, 1956 v INVENTOR ,Mv A, AT ORNEYS Patented Mar. 26, 1946 2,397,456 TRANSFERRING STITCHES Julius Sirmay, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to Jacquard Knitting Machine 00., Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of New York Original application May 9, 1936, Serial No.

78,920, now Patent No. 2,181,105, dated November 21, 1939. Divided and this application July 16, 1943, Serial No. 494,921

2 Claims.

My invention relates to a method of transferring stitches from one needle to another in knitting machines, or to another loop-receiving instrument, whereby pattern or design effects by.

eyelets, transferred stitches, rib work on a jersey background and other fabrics or effects are produced. Preferably the transferring is from one needle to another but other forms of transfer instruments may be used.

The subject matter of this application is illustrated and described in my application Ser. No. 78,920, filed May 9, 1936, now Patent No. 2,181,105, and also in my co-pending application Ser. No. 239,499, filed November 8, 1938, now Patent No. 2,326,694, but the claims thereto in those applications have been canceled therefrom under requirements for division. This application is a division of my said application Serial No. 78,920.

The accompanying drawing illustrates a preferred form of my invention from which its nature will be apparent. Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the form of transfer needle which I prefer to use with my invention, a cooperating needle or other loop-receiving instrument and also two positions of yarn loops (relative to the transfer needle) being indicated therein as well. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the matter of Fig. 1.

The needle 5 is a sliding latch needle, such as may be used in the cylinder of a circular knitting machine. The instrument to receive loops drawn by the needle 5, as and when desired, is indicated diagrammatically at 8; this instrument may be a dial needle of the sliding latch type as will be understood.

A transfer clip 24, so called, is provided at and bulges from one side of the needle 5 as will be understood from prior practices; preferably the clip is attached to and carried by the needle at an appropriate distance below the needle hook as will be understood, but that is not entirely essential. The end of the clip nearer the needle hook is free (unattached to the needle), and usually a depression 55 is provided in the side of the needle 5 in which this free pointed end 55 of the clip lies normally; the purpose of this is to permit the end 56 of the clip to pass readily into a loop 51 hanging on the needle as the clip is raised toward transferring position.

As thus described, the instrument may be a conventional form of clip-type transfer device; the additional matter hereafter with respect to the needle 5 is illustrative of the type of device I prefer to use with my present invention. At or near its forward edge the needle 5 is provided with a projection 58 to enter the loop prior to the passing into the loop of that portion of the clip which is farthest separated from the needle side; this projection extends forwardly, and is inclined forwardly and downwardly in such a manner as to draw out a loop 51 on the needle as the pro- J'ection is thrust upwardly into the loop, drawing it out in a direction directly'away from the edge of the fabric. That is to say, the projection 58 has a thickness not substantially greater than the thickness of the needle (and may have a thickness much less than the thickness of the needle as shown in the drawing), and the projection extends forwardly to such a distance that the greatest circumscribing perimeter around the projection is greater than the perimeter of a loop as drawn initially by the needle hook. By circumscribing perimeter" it will be understood that I mean the perimeter as measured by the length of a thread necessary to circumscribe or enclose the projection and passing around the back of the needle. Preferably theprojection 58 is an integral part of the needle-and-clip combination, and preferably is a projection from the forward edge of the needle as illustrated. Beyond (that is to say, at points further removed from the needle hook than, and in the case of a cylinder needle below) the most forwardly extending point on the projection, the clip may be shaped to somewhat extend the forward and downward incline of the projection as it were, as the clip departs from the needle side; this is shown in Fig. 2 immediately below the end 56 of the clip. However this may be, beyond the most forwardly extending point on the projection, the forward edge of the clip is located further forward than the part of the forward edge of the needle which is adjacent thereto, at its maximum this difference preferably being as considerable as reasonably possible, as illustrated just above the shoulder or vnotch 6! on the clip in Fig. 2; to this end, when the projection 58 is not formed entirely on the clip 24 the projection 58 retreats downwardly toward the back of the needle as it were (Fig. 2) as a result, as the clip rises through the loop 51 (now enlarged by the draft of .the projection) and carries one leg 62 of the loop to one side (Fig. 1, and perhaps carries the loop end still further forward, due to the downward and outward inclination of the forward edge of the clip, Fig. 2, as before noted), the opposite leg 59 of the loop is allowed more and more to take a diagonal direction from near the back edge of the needle to the forward edge of the clip 24; a recession by a gradual incline on 58 as shown in Fig. 2 is preferable but not. altogether necessary. At about the point where the clip is farthest separated from the needle side a notch or shoulder 60 is preferably provided to receive the loop at some distance from the clip, that is to say, adjacent the needle,

and preferably is provided on the forward part of the needle, or at about the same locality a shoulder or indentation 8| is provided on the forward edge of the clip; preferably both such notches are provided. The back or forwardly facing wall of, the notch or shoulder 8| on the clip against which the loop rests (or this part of the clip edge, if no shoulder is provided here) also is located further forward than the adjacent forward edge of the needle (Fig. 2) so that at this,

forward point on the clip so that the yarn will,

more readily drop to this shoulder (Fig. 2).

In transferring a loop from the transfer in strument 5, the needle is moved through the loop to place the loop back of (e. g. below) the needle hook; in the case of latch needles, the latch is passed completely through the loop (Figs. 1 and 2). Say thereafter, the projection 58 is moved into the loop 51; as this projection moves into the loop it acts on the loop lengthwise of the loop, and this lengthwise draft on a loop, initially drawn by the needle too small to pass over (circumscribe) the projection, causes additional yarn to be drawn from the adjacent loop or loops and delivered into the loop to be transferred, whereby the latter loop is enlarged with the minimum effort and accordingly minimum of strain on the yarn. The clip 24 is then moved into the loop (or passed further into it), and any continuation of the incline on the projection 58 that may be provided by the clip may act to draw out the loop 51 still further in a more or less lengthwise direction. Continued movement of the clip passes the bulge of the clip into or further into the 1001),:

with perhaps further enlargement of the loop, and as this occurs the retreat of the projection 58 allows the adjacent leg 59 of the loop to swing over somewhat, diagonally as it were, toward the clip, the diagonal placement of the leg 59 permitting the clip to open a loop of minimum size sufficiently to admit the loop-receiving instrument. Ultimately the continued movement brings to the loop the shoulder 60 or the shoulder 8| (or both of them, if two such shoulders as 60 and BI are used). The loop 51 has now been opened suffi. ciently, or substantially sufficiently, to permit the instrument 6 to enter it, the opposite leg 82 of the loop has been swung to permit the needle G'to pass between the two legs, a definite cross-bar 83 has been provided for reception by the needle 6 (regarding the instrument which isto receive the loop as the needle) and the shoulder or shoulders 60, 6| establish this cross-bar at a definite position with respect to the receiving needle 6.

For certainty of operation I prefer to carry out the method of transferring of my present invention as a series of definite steps, although this may not always be necessary. That is to say, I preferably first move the shoulder or shoulders to a position wherein the loop leg 62 is definitely short of the path of the receiving needle 8, and stop them in this position (Fig. 2); then move the needle 6 over this leg 62, stopping it short of the cross-bar 63; then move the shoulder or shoulders another step to place the cross-bar 63 definitely beyond the path of the needle 6, the needle 6 now holding the loop leg 62 at the opposite side of the same side of the receiving needle ath as the cross-bar i3; and then move the receiving needle 0 another step to place its hook beyond the crossbar; if desired, suchlsteps can be taken as parts of continuous operations timed as here indicated. The receiving needle 8 is now definitely within the loop; incidentally, it projects within the clip 24 also. The clip 24 and the projection 58 and needle hook (if one or both the latter have not already been withdrawn) are now moved in the opposite direction to withdraw them from the loop, leaving the latter hangin on the needle Ii; the needle 6 escapes from its enclosure within the clip by reason of the fact that the elasticity of the clip 24 permits its free end 56 to ride over the side of needle 8 as the clip is moved out of the loop. The

loop 51 having thus been transferred from needle 5 to needle 6, the operations of the knitting machine may now proceed in any desired manner as will be understood.

Obviously the various parts mentioned can be operated by various mechanisms as will be understood. For example, when the projection 58, clip 24 and the shoulder or shoulders 60, iii are parts of or carried by the needle 5 as illustrated, mechanism acting on the needle alone will serve .to carry these latter parts as well as the needle 1 foregoing.

As will be apparent from the foregoing, my invention can be incorporated in various forms and accordingly is not limited to the details of construction and operation described above and illustrated in the drawing except as appears hereafter in the claims.

I claim: I y l 1. In a method of transferring a knitting loop from a needle to another instrument, the steps shoulder or shoulders tend to place the leg 62 at which consist of placing the loop back of the needle hook in position to be cast off over the hook, then enlarging the loop by carrying the end of the loop forwardly and thereby drawing into the loop yarn from an adjacent loop or loops, and thereafter swinging one leg of the loop away from the adjacent side of the needle and swinging the forward end of the opposite leg of the loop across the needle to open the loop to admit the loopreceiving instrument.

2. In a method of transferring a knitting loop from a needle to another instrument, the steps which consist of opening the loop, then placing the loop-receiving instrument across one leg of the loop, then advancing the end of the loop to definitely place said end at the opposite side of the loop-receiving instrument from said leg, during such movement of the loop the position f the loop-receiving instrument nullifyin any tendency of such loop-positioning movement to place the said leg at the same side of the loop-receiving instrument as the end of the loop, and then projecting the loop-receiving instrument to place its and beyond the end of the loo whereby the loopreceiving instrument is entered into the loop.

JULIUS SIRMAY. 

